Happily Ever Challenged #10 - Winner announced!

Wow! The end of September crept up on me... like a raging train...  :)



I used Random.org to come up with a number and it gave me the number "1"!  :)



So...



Congratulations, Kara! :) You're the winner!



Please email me at



happilyevercrafter at gmail dot com



by October 3...and I will send a $10 PTI gift certificate your way! :)



Thanks to all who participated!



Thanks for looking and/or commenting!





 Happily Ever Yours,

 

Thoughts of You - Dustin Pike

Well, I've rediscovered Dustin Pike's work and I've also rediscovered using Photoshop Elements (PSE) to color his images! :) I love doing this because 1) clean-up is a breeze (I close the program!) and 2) I can add textures, etc. :) Also, no drying time for the ink... and I can save the image!  ;)



 Here's the card... I've colored the dragon with PSE, using the RGB codes for Old Olive and Taken with Teal (both Stampin' Up! colors). His horns are Pumpkin Pie (also SU!). I added some texture and even found an "oak" pattern for the table! How cool is that?!

Here's a close-up of the image so hopefully you can see the cool textures. I even made the teal parts "pearly". :) The horns are "granular"...and the pencil is "wood-like".

I'll be doing more of this in the future.



If you haven't checked out Dustin's work, I strongly recommend him. Click here to see more!



Thanks for looking and/or commenting!





Stamps: Image from Dustin Pike; sentiment from Mailbox Greetings (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine)

Paper: Old Olive, Taken With Teal (both Stampin' Up!)

Other:Photoshop Elements (Adobe); Nestabilities (Spellbinders)



 Happily Ever Yours,

 

Top Ten Things I Like About My Principal

This is the time of year that's crazy for us teachers... and crazier for our principal! Normally, we'd be worried, but our principal, Lisa... is just awesome! I admire that she's so supportive of the staff and always looks out for us (professionally and personally)!



At our school, we have Project Cornerstone, a curriculum designed to help the kids feel good about themselves and make wise choices when it comes to interacting with others. A new part of it is the "bucket". Basically, it's a system where we want the kids (and we adults) to make sure our "bucket" is always filled and that we find the value in ourselves. If somebody insults us, they take from our "bucket" and if somebody praises us they add to our "bucket".  :)



In any case, I wanted to make sure Lisa, our principal, knew how much she's valued by us... and what better way than to list some things I like about her... using Papertrey Ink's "Top Ten" and "Top Ten Additions".



I also happen to know her favorite color combination is pink and green. So... without further ado...








 Please don't ask how I did that with the button... I can't remember! LOL... I just wanted to do something different with a button and what you see is my experiment's results.  ;) I do wish it would lay a bit better, but there you have it.



Do you notice the texture of the Green Galore paper I used to make the little simulated notebook page? Do you love it? :) It's from PTI's Linen Texture Impression Plate. Here's a close-up of it:








I know, I know... it's not SPECTACULAR, but I think it adds a little somethin'-somethin' to it. :) The die is also Papertrey Ink and called "Spiral Notebook Page". I'll be frank... I didn't think I'd use it...but come on! How cute is that!



Here's the inside of my card to Lisa:








I know what you're doing to say: "Hey Ted! There's a tiny smudge under the 3!" Yeah, I know... but that makes a personalized homemade card homemade, doesn't it? Just nod politely, okay?!  :P



It's my hope that the talented Dawn McVey (the sweetheart that created this stamp set) will add more to it... because I can see so many more adjectives for it. Oooh! How about an addition that just has "things I like about" and "things I love about" and we can write in under it? "Things I love about Yosemite" and "Things I like about Halloween"! She can then have holidays/seasons additions. Are you reading this, Dawn?!  :)



Anyway, I hope that Lisa likes this card. :) She's such a valuable part of our staff and means the world to so many of us!



Thanks for looking and/or commenting!





Stamps:Butterfly Dreams, Top Ten, Top Ten Additions (all Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine); Green Galore (Stampin' Up!)

Paper: Pink Passion, Green Galore, Whisper White (all Stampin' Up!)

Other:Ticket Corner Punch (Stampin' Up!); Raspberry Fizz top notch twill, Simply Chartreuse button, Rustin Twine, Linen Impression Plate, Spiral Notebook Die (all Papertrey Ink); Tombow adhesive;  Dimensionals



 Happily Ever Yours,

 

Happy Pre-Halloween! :)

I'm so sorry that it's been quite a while since I've posted a creation of my own... school has started and it's drained virtually all of my creative energy. And blogging about any creation even takes MORE energy. In a nutshell...



I'm lazy.  :)



Today, after putting away my latest haul of PTI, I decided I should finally get a start on some Halloween cards, seeing as many of my co-cardmakers have already started their Christmas creations.  :(  See? Told you I'm slow!



Anyway, I created a couple of tags for some jars of candy corn I want to give to my colleagues. I had good intentions to make more until I realized I have to COLOR each and every candy corn!  :P



Here's the finished product of the tag:








I then grew VERY tired of coloring the candy corn and wanted to get inky by making a card. :) I've been hankering to use the Friendship Jar Fall Fillers from Papertrey Ink. It's a fun set and I came up with this little item:








I'm especially proud of how I made the lid appear to "pop" off the jar as the "witch's brew" sprang to life! ;) The tag dangles freely and you can't see it in this picture, but there are green Stickles to accent her magic!



Here are my finished products sharing the spotlight:








Thanks for looking and/or commenting!





Stamps: Friendship Jar, Friendship Jar Fall Fillers (both Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Perfect Plum (for the card sentiment - Stampin' Up!); Tuxedo Black (for most of the images - Memento)

Paper:Perfect Plum, Garden Green, Gable Green (all Stampin' Up!); Coconut Swirl (Bazzill)

Other: Copics; Stickles (Ranger); New Leaf Twill, Rustic Twine (both Papertrey Ink); ATG; Dimensionals; Scallop Edge Punch (EK Success for Stampin' Up!)



 Happily Ever Yours,

 

Happily Ever Challenged #10 - A Golden Opportunity!

Hello all and I offer my sincerest apologies for taking so long to post this. :) With the advent of school starting, I've been uber-lazy. Then again, I'm not sure this was missed by that many, after all.  ;)



Well, it's September and in honor of a special birthday (California's!), I'm making this a GOLDEN HEC! :) What does that mean? Well, it's pretty much the same as all other HECs, but since California IS the Golden State, I'm asking for something special on your HEC contributions:



I'd like you to incorporate some type of GOLD into your project (card, box, scrapbook layout, etc.). Now, I'm not talking about gold-colored paper. No, that wouldn't be much of a challenge, would it?!  ;)  No, I'm talking about GOLD...as in SHINY gold. You can use:



Gold foil

Gold glitter

Gold Stickles

Gold bling

Gold (shiny) ribbon

Gold coins

Gold chains



As long as it's a SHINY gold, then you're ahem.... golden.  :P It needs to be shiny and sparkle. :) (Much like the women in Southern California!)



Here are the usual guidelines, for your perusal:



1. You will post it on your blog or gallery.

2. You will then need to copy the URL of the BLOG POST (not your blog, but the actual post where you're featuring the project).

3. Add the URL and your NAME to the INLINKS below. :)

4. In your blog post, please direct others to this post so that they may participate!

5. The deadline is Thursday, September 30, 2010 by around 3:00 PM PST.

6. I will choose a random number/winner then and post it.

7. The winner will have until Sunday, October 3 to email me at happilyevercrafter at gmail dot com. If I don't receive an email by then, I'll re-draw a number and so on.

8. Only one entry per person, please. :)



So get out there and make the 49ers proud, will ya?! Mine up some projects and get back here to stake your claim...which is...

A SPARKLY TEN DOLLAR GIFT CERTIFICATE TO PAPERTREY INK!!!

I can't wait to be blinded by your sparkly creations! :)


 Happily Ever Yours,